DAY OF THE DEAD CLEARANCE ITEMS

Over the last few weeks, I have found some great "Day of the Dead" items on clearance and you all know how I like a deal!

After every holiday I always try to find items when they are at steep discounts, (usually when 50%, 75% or more off).  I add them to our storage boxes of holiday decoration items.

Day of the Dead platters

These platters are awesome.  They are big, in fact the large one is so big it won't fit in the large storage bin we have. Bright bold colors, we love them. 

Day of the Dead vase

Found this glass vase for a dollar.

A place for flowers next year!

Dia de los Muertas wall art

These wall plaques are really neat.  They are made of wood and so colorful.

Wilton Sugar Skull cake pan

And of course I had to find something for 2nd Man.  This is a Wilton skull cake pan just for Day of the Dead.  Can you say Sugar Skull cakes next year?

Wait a second, does that mean this was for HIM or for ME?  Would that be a win win?

COLD AND WET WEEKEND

It's been wet yesterday and now cold today.  

Not anything I could do outside.

Now we're heading into a cold streak for a few days.  It's 42 right now and a possible dip to 32 this coming week.  But hey, then we have a return to 60's by the end of the week.  Gotta love Houston weather. 

We had about 3 inches of rain at the farm Friday thru Saturday.  Good for the garden and the fruit trees.

It was a good time for an oven roasted chicken.

2nd Man sliced up sweet potatoes and put them in the bottom of a cast iron pan.  Then he rubbed olive oil and salt and pepper on a chicken, put it on top of the sweet potatoes and popped it in a 400 degree oven (this one was about 45 mins).

Hobart has the right idea today.  We got out of bed and he gets in while it's still warm, head on the pillow and stretches out.

Rotten cat.

Hope you had a good weekend!

BACON FRIDAY FUNNY

OK, now here's OUR kind of sign, ha!

Mmm, bacon...

Hope you are having a great Friday.

We have rain.  We need bacon.  

SCREENED OUTDOOR BEDROOM INSPIRATION THURSDAY

Every Thursday we like to post a picture of something we've found online that inspires us to do something similar at the farm. Sort of our own blog bulletin board so that we can eventually look back and someday, hopefully anyway, recreate it...enjoy!

Image courtesy of Davesgarden.com

SO...is this too much?  Someday building (in the tree covered area of the farm) something like this?

Maybe not quite this elaborate (though the design of this is beautiful), but something like a screened in room with a bed in it...it would be for the less humid and of course non-rainy days.  We have plenty of those in the Spring and Fall (and some in the Winter).  I've always thought it would be fun to sleep outside (used to camp and use tents and loved it) but have daydreamed about something like this.  

Too weird?

Be inspired!

COLLARD GREENS AND SAUSAGE RECIPE

This past weekend we had our first harvest of collard greens.  I cut a stack of leaves and then washed and cleaned them. 

Collard greens

Cut the tough center stems out, roll them in stacks and slice into nice julienne type strips.

I handed it over to 2nd Man, ha.

We had some baby spinach leftover from another dish and a package of sausage.  All the trappings of a home cooked meal from random ingredients, ha. 

He dug around in the pantry and also found an onion.  He sliced up the onion and the sausage.

Since the collards take the longest to cook, put them, the sausage and the onion into a skillet with a little olive oil just to get everything cooking.  Cover and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes.

Remove the lid, add the spinach, stir it around and put the lid back on for about 10 more minutes or until spinach is softened and all is done.

Turn off the heat, add a couple tablespoons of balsamic vinegar and stir it up.

Collard greens, onions and sausage

Dish it up and serve!

The flavors of the sausage sautéed in the pan with the onion and collards and spinach and balsamic is REALLY good.  It's a very "Fall" dish. 

FINALLY FALL AND A SMALL HARVEST

Was at the farm Saturday all day.  Click HERE for yesterday's post.  We spent the day doing small projects in various places.  Moving some things from the house to the barn/shed, just kind of taking inventory of what we have and looking around at what major projects to think about for next year.  

It was a beautiful day.  Crazy that early in the week we had lows in the 30's.  Saturday it got to 78.  If you don't like the weather in Houston, just wait.

Look!  It's finally Fall at the farm, ha! 

Tree with Fall leaves

This is one of the few trees that actually changes color like we see in other places.  Most of the trees (at least that we can get to and/or see) are mesquite or hackberry or some other variety whose leaves just seem to go from green to brown to gone.  

This one is near the barn and looks very pretty.

Frog

Thankfully, no spider attacks this weekend.  Instead, it was a frog invasion.  Saw these little things all over.  Not sure why, if it's "frog season" or what, but we must have seen ten of these.  They eat bugs so we're OK with a frog invasion.  

Raised bed Fall garden

Here is the garden.  Doing nicely and look and the two beds with the straw (click to enlarge)...all the garlic is finally up and growing nicely!

Collard greens

Best of all, we were able to get our first Fall harvest this year.  A batch of good old collard greens!  2nd Man will be turning these into something yummy very soon.

Hope you had a great weekend!

VINTAGE STYLE METAL SIGNS AND THE WEEKEND SO FAR

So I went to the store recently looking for deals.

They had a stack of those old style metal signs, replicas of those that used to hang on barns and gas stations etc.  New of course but made to look rusted and distressed and "vintage".  

I looked through the stack and thought to myself "well if they have any that make sense to have, then I'll get them".

Behold!

Jeep metal sign

2nd Man and I both drive a Jeep.  His is the fourth he has had and mine is the first and I love it too.

Having a vintage "JEEP" sign makes perfect sense! 

John Deere metal sign

And then, um, well, hello?!?!?  For those who follow the blog know that I love my Zen Machine, which of course is a John Deere X320 riding lawn tractor.

I guess you could say it was a "sign", LOL!

I'm not sure where these will go.  They are large, about 3 feet across.  They might be cool on the porch but I think the John Deere would be neat in the mower shed.  Of course now I think we need some more.  Coca-cola perhaps?

It's been a good weekend so far, clear, warm, and just beautiful.  More of an update tomorrow! 

A MODERN DILEMMA

OK, now this is definitely today's conundrum by so many; save yourself or capture the moment for posting to social media or instant viral fame...

It's Friday.  We can't believe we're already a week out from Thanksgiving and another week closer to Christmas.  

PORCH TABLE AND CHAIRS INSPIRATION THURSDAY

Every Thursday we like to post a picture of something we've found online that inspires us to do something similar at the farm. Sort of our own blog bulletin board so that we can eventually look back and someday, hopefully anyway, recreate it...enjoy!

Porch table and chairs in white, image via Southernliving.com

Our porch floor is natural wood.  

Our house is white.  

As much as we like color, there is something oddly satisfying in the simplicity of this.  And let's face it, for now anyway, it's just us there.  No guests.  So a small table for two, with two chairs, monochromatic in white, it just seems peaceful.

Not much involved in this, we just need to find a small wooden table and a couple of simple chairs, paint it all white (in outdoor paint of course) and then we can just sit and relax.  Now I'm going to be on a mission to find a little table like this.

Be inspired!

SHEET PAN STUFFED CHICKEN AND ASPARAGUS RECIPE

Here is one of my favorite things to do, cook a meal on a sheet pan.  This one was born out pure necessity.  We didn't have a lot left in the fridge and it was a rainy weekend evening.

Sheet pan dinner of chicken breasts

I dug around in the refrigerator and came up with a couple of chicken breasts (boneless skinless), some cooked bacon, cheese slices, and some leftover delis style slices of turkey and ham.  Surely I could come up with a meal from that.

Chicken breast stuffed with cheese and bacon

I sliced the breasts open to make a pocket and stuffed in a couple slices of cheese and some of the cooked bacon (two slices in each breast).

On the outside I sprinkled with salt and pepper.

I pulled out the deli slices of ham and turkey.  Based on the size of the breast, I used two slices on each breast. 

Then I decided to spread a little mayo on the outside of each breast (adds a good flavor).  As you can see in the picture above (sort of a step by step), after the mayo, I next put on a slice of cheese, slices of turkey (to cover the breast) and then a slice of cheese on top of the turkey (cheese makes everything good).

Then on top of the turkey I put a slice of deli ham.  Two to cover the size of the chicken breast.

I put them on the sheet pan, used toothpicks to hold it all in place and then drizzled with just a little bit of olive oil.  Just to get the ham crisped up.

I put them in a preheated 425 degree oven to roast.

Chicken breast roasted on sheet pan

I roasted them for 20 minutes.  They look yummy but not quite done yet!

Time to add the vegetables!

Asparagus

I trimmed some asparagus we had in the fridge, drizzled it with olive oil and sprinkled with salt and pepper to taste.

Sheet pan dinner

I put them around the chicken on the sheet pan and popped it all back in the oven for about 10 more minutes.  You want to make sure the chicken is done and to temperature.  For these sized chicken breasts at this temperature it was about 30 minutes total cook time.  That's why we used the last 10 minutes for the asparagus. 

Sheet pan stuffed chicken breast and asparagus

Just dish it up and enjoy!

It was done perfectly and tasted great.  The cheese is melty and the ham has crisped up.  For something I sort of just made up with what we had on hand, 2nd Man said "you need to make this again".  Of course he might have just enjoyed the night off from cooking, ha.